Captive
by L. Drayton
Summary: When Merlin's kidnapped and tortured to breaking point, will Arthur be able to save him? Contains magic suppression. No slash. K for mild violence and uncomfortable themes for some.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! This is yet another Merlin Whump story, as you can probably guess, and it could be my last for a while. Anyways, hope you like it!  
- Love, Livvy xxx**

Merlin tugged at the shackles around his wrists desperately, crying out slightly in fear and anger. Never had he been imprisoned like this. It had only been about four hours since he'd been roughly separated from his master in an attack and brought to this godforsaken cell. Merlin's hands had been violently shoved into manacles. They were far too tight and he began to stop being able to feel his hands.

Merlin decided to try to get them off . "Abrecap benda!" he commanded, a little too loudly. Suddenly he heard footsteps and mentally kicked himself for being so foolish.

"Wozzat a spell?" the guard asked, already knowing the answer. Merlin shook his head. The man entered his cell and pulled Merlin up to his eye level by his collar, Merlin refused to look at his face and moved his head to the side. "Master's gonna be pleased," he spat and began to laugh, dragging Merlin out of the cell and up the stairs to where Merlin assumed he would discover the man behind his capture.

"Nomed," Merlin muttered when he saw the man, knowing his face. This man was a known enemy of Camelot, and a fearfully terrific sorceror.

"So you've decided to come and visit me-" Merlin snorted, acting nonchalant and giving a pall expression. Nomed decided to ignore this. "Why?"

"'E's been 'eard doin' magic, like," the guard piped up. Nomed looked at Merlin incredulously with his flat grey eyes, he was about to say the guard was mentally deranged but then he noticed Merlin twitch slightly and instead started to grin.

"Ah, I suspected he was a magic-user. At last. Perform magic, then, boy."

"No," Merlin replied, without a moment's hesitation. He watched Nomed's eyes flame with gold and a vase exploded behind him, venting some of the sorcerors's anger.

"Once, " he said, "when I was a boy, probably about your age, I was caught and tortured. The pain was unbearable but I would not tell my secrets of magic to the foul woman who had captured me, so she thought of the worst punishments she could for magic users like I and got her blacksmiths to make the appropriate instruments.

"She placed theses horrid instruments in one of the rooms in her castle. Luckily I didn't ever find myself on the receiving end of one of those weapons, because I escaped. Ironically, I use those instruments, but only in extreme circumstances, like with magic-users who wont behave and do as they're asked. Do you understand what I'm trying to say here?"

"Yes," Merlin replied through gritted teeth.

"Good. So, let's see what you can do."

"I take orders from a selected few, of which you are not one," Merlin spat out. Nomed grunted and a grin encased his features.

"If you will not use it for me, boy, I shall extract it from you slowly and painfully."

"I'd rather die than honour your commands," Merlin replied, voice full of venom.

The evil man before him chuckled and signaled for a man to come forward from behind him in the shadows that encased the room. When his hands were finally illuminated, Merlin gasped, he knew what the man was holding by the blue lightening which seamed to now be running all over it and the horrifying pictures he had seen. Magic eating manacles.

The young warlock then began to seriously consider if suicide was a formidable option because he knew the pain these instruments inflicted on magic users. They sucked the magic slowly from within the soul. Merlin's magic was intwined with his life-force, so he was fully expecting to die. In that black cell. Slowly. Painfully. Alone. But he would not betray his friends and master for the sake of his own protection.

"So be it."

**I really hope you liked and are inclined to prove your enjoyment with a review but if not, that's cool too :D xxx**

**See you soon with the next installment! **

**-Livvy**


	2. Chapter 2

**And so we meet again for chapter 2! Hope this satisfies your wants for worried!Arthur etcetera. Enjoy!**

**-Love, Livvy xxx**

"Arthur, this is ridiculous! We won't find him being as tired as we are, so let's stop for the night and rest and try again tomorrow," Sir Leon shouted over the sound of leaves crunching beneath the horses' hooves as they trotted. Arthur had been dead set on finding his manservant since he'd woken up to find him missing. The knights had been fully positive about going, but they did not realise how desperate their king would become in this task. All (except Merlin's dearest friends, of which there were only a few) grumbled under their breath to one-another about the fact that they'd been searching for about six hours without a break.

Arthur pulled the reins on his horse and rubbed his temples. Leon was right, of course: it was too dark to search. He called to his men to dismount and set up camp and an audible sigh of relief rose from many men at the order. Leon came over to his king and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"He will be found, sire."

"I can't make them," Arthur said, deciding to ignore Leon's words of consolation.

"Pardon?"

"The men. I can't make them do this."

"My Lord-"

"They should go back to Camelot - and so should you."

"Sire, I will not leave your side. You are not only my master, but friend. And I don't want you to face these trials of emotion and strength on your own."

"I appreciate that, Leon, truly I do. But Camelot needs authority and protection. Something I cannot give for now, and I don't know when I shall. I need you to..." Arthur struggled to recollect the phrase he'd wanted to say, "hold up the fort, as it were."

"Very well, sire. But on a condition."

"Which is?"

"Don't continue alone, Arthur. You may be strong and wise, but your head is a mess at the moment and you aren't thinking straight, which is understandable of course seeing as Merlin is such a great-"

"Sir Leon," Arthur interrupted, fearing Leon was going to make Arthur realise how much of a friendship he had with Merlin, "I will ask Sir Gwaine and Sir Percival to accompany me. Maybe even Sir Elyan. I'm sure they'd be more than willing. When do you depart?"

"At first light. Until then I shall assist in your planning, sire, if I may." Leon knew Arthur's reaction would be one of confusion.

"Planning?"

"You weren't seriously just going to just ride into the forest, were you? With no plans, no ideas of what you're going to do?"

Leon knew his king was struggling through a hurricane of emotions in his heart: worry, compassion, anxiety, confusion, sadness, fear, desparateness, and many more black feelings that the knight hated to think Arthur was putting up with. He wanted to be with him through this, but he knew Arthur would cope better with Gwaine and Percival and Elyan (who would not leave their two friends, Merlin and Arthur) than with him and the rest of the knights.

"I'm not sure what I was going to do," Arthur whispered, honestly. His servant being missing, possibly dyeing was a situation Arthur dealt with often enough, but Arthur had a bad feeling about this time, almost as though his gut was trying to tell him that Merlin wasn't coming back.

"I understand. What are you to do-"

"I shall think of a plan."

"If I may, sire, I was mulling over this eventuality on our journey here and I may have a bit of a plan."

"Continue."

"Well, the men who attacked us had forced scars on their left arms. There is only one man I know of who claims a man as his own by cutting a mark into their flesh-"

Arthur realised who Leon was talking about and finished the sentence for him. "Nomed," he said with grim finality.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this one's so much shorter, but I reached a natural stopping point and couldn't make my creativity continue. So I've started on the next chapter already so you'll have a bit more to read than about 450 words. Please be patient and it'll be up soon! Enjoy!  
- Love, Livvy xxx**

Merlin focused entirely on his breathing as the pain from a huge slash took it's toll. He had been sliced across the torso with a dagger instead of being given the manacles straight after Nomed had produced them, as he'd noticed Merlin's face pale with horror at the sight of them and had apparently decided to have some fun by letting Merlin's terror grow before actually placing them around his thin wrists. Something Merlin did not believe he would thank him for later.

He winced as the cell door creaked open but kept his emotions of fear hidden under a mask of confidence: it was imperative that Nomed didn't detect his terror, for that showed weakness, and weakness was not something Merlin let people see especially his enemies. Unfortunately, Nomed saw straight through his act.

"You are wise to fear me, young sorcerer," he started, "I think no less of your courage for that."

Merlin just sneered, a foul metallic taste forming in his mouth, perhaps it was fear, but Merlin was more inclined to believe it was hatred.

"Mute now, are we?" Nomed sing-songed. "Oh come now, don't be grumpy! I've decided to give you one last chance before I use the manacles." At the mention of the disgusting restraints, Merlin started shaking slightly.

"Now, _Merlin_," the tormentor drawled,"will you or will you not serve under me?"

Said warlock rolled his fractured blue eyes automatically and replied, "You're mind is callous and your thirst for power blinding and I will not serve under a man like you."

Nomed's eyes flashed with anger and he raised his head. "I have the power to destroy your soul and ensnare your wills. You would be wise to respect my wishes." Merlin spat at his feet. "For your impertinence and refusal to comply to my demands, I will now kill you slowly and painfully."

"I'm not afraid of you, Nomed. I am only afraid for you."

"And why is that, boy?"

"Because if you kill me (as you state you wish to) your guilt over the destinies and prophecies you would've shattered would eventually crush you, that is- if my friends don't get there first."

"We shall see." And then, Merlin's chains were removed, and the new ones attached, and the cell door slammed shut, and the warlock felt the pain of a thousand ages as his magic slowly decayed from deep within his heart.

Ice gripped at the pulsing gold magic entwined with his lifeline, freezing it and tearing it apart. The young warlock felt his will crumble slowly and he couldn't stop tears falling and screams slipping from his lips. All he could hear was Nomed's laughs and his own broken cries.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hiya guys! Thank you for sticking with me all the way up to chapter 4! And thank you for your much appreciated responses! Enjoy!**

**- Love, Livvy xxx**

The cold morning air pinched Arthur's cheeks as he rode his horse towards where he knew Nomed was situated. He could hear his accompanying knights making merry to each other behind him but could not bring himself to join in with their joy at such a time, even if it was just their way of coping with the weight of the situation.

It was mid-afternoon before the black building finally entered the riders' view, becoming closer with every trot the horses took. Arthur would deny his fear at that moment, despite the fact that terror was creeping up in his stomach just at the hellish view before him of the dwelling place of one of his worst enemies.

Nomed was a known and very much despised person within the walls of Arthur's beloved city as he had a certain... obsession with formulating huge magical armies then using them to attack Camelot. He had invaded four times in the past, to Arthur's knowledge, and only two of those attempts had failed, the other two resulting in about two weeks of tyranny before someone (undoubtedly a knight) had forced him out of the city walls. One attempt had been on Arthur's 16th birthday, and Arthur (considering himself a man, now) followed him back to his hide-out after he'd been defeated and forced to trudge home.

The sight of the building brought back memories of war and pain for the king and it took all of his willpower to continue onward.

"Is that it then, Arthur?" asked Gwaine, who had not witnessed one of Nomed's attacks.

"Yes. Let us rest here for the remainder of the day and then we shall proceed at nightfall, to produce the element of surprise on our enemy-"

"Who is...?"

"Nomed."

"Who is...?" Gwaine repeated as they all sat down except for Percival who silently offered to sort the horses by tying them to a tree and feeding them some fresh apples from his saddle bags.

"A powerful sorceror with a habit for attacking Camelot with magical armies. I have a theory that the magic-users in his service do not volunteer, and I think many are tortured into service."

"That would explain why the building resembles a torture house."

"Indeed." Silence.

"And Merlin's in there?" Percival asked as he sat with his friends, the horses now happy and safe behind them.

"I fear so."

"Why would he want Merlin if he's only interested in sorcerors?" Elyan inquired.

"Maybe he's now gone as far as to torture helpless, defenceless, non-magical men also. Coward."

"Hmmm. I hate to think of him stuck in there with that beast," Elyan worded what they were all thinking.

"I hate to think of anyone being stuck in there," Arthur confessed.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, how are magic-users different to us really? By their strange abilities. I think that perhaps..."

"Go on," Gwaine urged, intrigued and fascinated by this sudden change of viewpoint from Arthur.

"Well perhaps magic doesn't corrupt the mind. Perhaps not all magic-users are automatically evil." Arthur looked as though he was in deep contemplation and the other men knew he wasn't lying when he spoke.

"Don't ever let your father hear you say that. You'll be locked up for fear of being enchanted," Gwaine teased.

"You're probably right," Arthur responded, no hint of good jest in his serious tone.

"What brought on this sudden change of mind anyway?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing really. I've just been thinking hard on a lot of things recently. Magic being one of them."

"I agree." The other men all looked at Percival.

"With what?" Elyan asked.

"Arthur's thoughts on magic. I think the amount of evil in magic depends on the content of evil in the wielder."

"I think that also," Gwaine admitted, "but I've never said before because of the threat of execution at the very word of magic."

"You are loyal indeed for opening up to me," Arthur muttered.

"It's getting dark."

"Soon we shall be moving forward to attack, and we haven't even begun to touch on the intricate plan I have formulated!"

"Well shoot away Arthur," Gwaine hurried, "I'm not sure Merlin has that much time to loose." And how right Gwaine was.


	5. Chapter 5

**Another short one I'm afraid! It's just a gap filler really before I get onto 'The Rescue' so sorry about that. But we get to see a tiny bit of Merlin's insight on the situation. xxx**

By the time night fell, Merlin felt certain there was nothing left beneath his skin except a broken man and one last shred of magic, which was slowly being gnawed at by the manacles as he panted.

The suppression of his magic left him exhausted, depressed and with a slight fever and he felt almost as if the world was going to crumble down around him. He'd had no visits from anyone and wasn't even sure if the guards were still gambling outside of his door. He doubted it. Why waste time guarding a useless boy with no way of escaping and possibly not even a night left in his life?

Merlin wished for home. He wished for normality. He wished it was all a horrid dream and that he'd wake up any second now in his little room behind Gaius' chambers. Then he would perform some magic, maybe make some birds fly around his room from the smoke of a nearby candle. Or make his clothes dance. Or summon beautiful butterflies. Or maybe he could even give Arthur back his beloved donkey ears (a spell which Merlin had perfected privately and was waiting for the correct moment to cast.) after that he'd set off to work, greeting Gaius and most likely Gwen on his travels. He'd hug both of them tightly and explain to them how he loved them so. Perhaps he'd even tell Arthur he appreciated his company, if only to witness the inevitable glorious reaction. Yes, he'd have a good day.

The tortured servant was so absorbed in his fantasy world that he didn't notice himself falling asleep, and soon, he was blessed with a deep slumber. And slowly, ever, ever so slowly, the magic within him finally began to win the war against the magic of the manacles.

_Elsewhere in the castle..._

_"'E's broken, Nomed. 'E's too far gone to be any use to us now." Said the guard._

_"I concur."_

_"What do you fink we should do wif 'im?"_

_"Just leave him to die. Simple and easy."_

_"What about 'is little friends? They're comin' to save 'im and you know it. They'll be 'ere within the night, I reckon."_

_"Let them rescue him. They'll be next to nothing for them to rescue anyway. Nothing left, but a broken shell of a man."_

Merlin awoke with a start and with cold sweat dripping mercilessly dow his face. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed, not having the energy to even cry over the horrid nightmare he'd encountered. Arthur had been in it. Dying on his quest to save him.

The young warlock was not only the savior of Camelot but also a medical man, and he knew he was in serious trouble. But he also knew that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Quite a nice lengthy one here, guys! Hope to hear your thoughts! And sorry about the huge gap, but inspiration seemed to be taking a holiday and only returned yesterday morning, so I sat down and wrote this for you! Hope you enjoy!**

**-Livvy D. x**

The moon was well up in the sky when Arthur and his company entered the building. They had no clue where their warlock was hidden, but Arthur figured that it wouldn't take too long to search the building's rooms. He signaled for Elyan and Percival to stay here, then he and Gwaine proceeded through the dark hallway.

To say that Arthur was not nervous would be untrue, but determination overpowered his will to turn and run away, which increased very time he heard a scream from within the depths. It was not reassuring to him (as it was to Gwaine) that he couldn't recognise a scream from Merlin, as it just increased his fears of his best friend being dead.

His footsteps were as soft as his bed which was so far away and as silent as his heart which he could swear was no longer beating for fear that Nomed would hear it.

"Gwaine," he whispered under his breath, "he'll be somewhere down here."

"Arthur, have you been here before?"

"Once."

They proceeded down a flight if stairs in silence. There were two guards at the foot of the stairs, but Arthur and Gwaine killed them easily. And then Gwaine gasped. All around them were cells with various types of people in them. Men, women, children - all of them were trapped. Arthur was disgusted.

They watched the knights with large eyes as they proceeded through the room. One man opened his mouth to shout, but a woman clamped her hand over it, shushing him as she did so. They wanted Arthur and Gwaine to succeed on their task. A small child came up to the bars around his cell which he shared with a nearly dead man and a skeleton, he held his hand through the bars and looked up at Arthur with tear-stained violet eyes.

Arthur knelt on the floor and clasped the child's hand. "What's your name?"

"M-my name's Brayden, s-sir."

"That means brave, doesn't it?"

"Y-yes sir."

"How long have you been here?"

"Seven years, sir. I was born here b-but my mother died."

"I'm sorry." Arthur then stood, and turned to Gwaine. "We can't let these people stay here. We have to set them free."

"I know, I agree. But it will just anger Nomed and he'll manage to capture them again," Gwaine said, rarely the voice of reason.

"Then we'll have to kill him," Arthur decided.

"Arthur, we can't! Even with Percival and Elyan helping he'd defeat us. Magic users are too powerful."

"Alright. Let's just get Merlin out of here, then we'll go back to Camelot and get help."

"Arthur..."

"Did you say Merlin, sir?" Brayden asked. "As in _the _Merlin, the one who stood up to Nomed?"

"Why? Do you know where he is?" Gwaine asked.

"He's in the cell at the end, sir. But he's dying," Brayden said, he sounded full of remorse and sadness.

"How do you know?"

"Well, when he first got here, sir, he used to talk to us, and tell us wonderful stories of an amazing kingdom - Camelot. When the guards told him to shut up, he retorted and said he'd always have a right to speak even if it was only to annoy his master-" at this Arthur snorted,"-so they tied his mouth shut, sir, until Nomed ordered them to release Merlin because he needed him to be able to speak. Well, now we never hear him talking, sir. And talking was one of his favourite things to do."

"Thank you. Yes, he is one to enjoy a chat," Arthur said, walking away from the child to the end of the hallway. He checked left and right in the cells as he walked in case the child had got it wrong. Everywhere he looked there were broken people, people who had been broken physically and mentally.

And then, he found him. On his left was a cell with bars exactly the same as all the others, no window, no seat, no nothing except a few strands of straw on the stone floor. In the corner of the tiny cell was the slumped, near unrecognizable form of Arthur's beloved manservant.

"Merlin!" Arthur hissed, yet Merlin did not stir. "Oh come on, Merlin. I need your help with this!" When Merlin still didn't respond Arthur turned to Gwaine, who shrugged unhelpfully. The king rattled the bars to Merlin's cell (those two words seemed so wrong to Arthur) in a vain hope to rouse the boy. It worked.

"Ar-thur?" Merlin croaked. He turned round slowly and Arthur tried not to punch the wall in anger at his best friend's chest. Gwaine couldn't contain it and Arthur soon heard the sickening sound of knuckle against stone. He payed no heed to his companion and instead crouched down on the floor. Merlin crawled over to his master and clasped the bars for support.

He looked dead.

"Merlin, you idiot."

"Prat, what've... What've I done?" Merlin closed his eyes.

"Okay, come on. Stand up and help me with the lock."

"I can't... It... Won't open."

"It will. I know it will. Work with me here, Merlin." With that, Merlin stood up, then promptly fell back down.

"The shackles... Cut the... Cut the shackles," he gasped out. Arthur didn't understand why that couldn't wait until later, but he complied, snaking his sword through the bars and slicing the metal clasp. They clashed to the floor and sparks flew as they hit the stone. Merlin looked up at Arthur and Gwaine and smiled. Not a goofy, stupid grin, but a small thankful, relieved smile which made Arthur a bit uncomfortable.

Then Merlin seamed to find new energy and stood, picking up the shackles as he did so.

"Why do you want to bring those?"

"I know that... That if they're with me... No-one'll have to wear them." Arthur decided to question Merlin further later. He passed the shackles through the bars to Arthur who attached them to his sword belt begrudgingly. Then he stood and shook the lock, trying to break it. When that didn't work he resulted to using his sword to pick at the links.

"Come on, Arthur. Nomed could be here any second!" Gwaine said, panicking.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Arthur retorted, exhausted.

Merlin was hesitant to use magic. He knew he shouldn't. The manacles suppressed his magic, but when they were taken off, it returned. However, it took a while (Merlin knew from Gaius' books) and it was not wise to use magic immediately after the suppression devise had been removed.

So Merlin was hesitant. But he did. He used it. His eyes flashed gold and Arthur cut through the chains, which clattered to the floor. Merlin immediately felt a mixture of excitement and exhaustion, the second being the more powerful feeling and he swayed precariously. Arthur steadied him.

"Okay let's go!" He all but shouted, hoisting Merlin over his shoulder and beginning to walk briskly down the hall. Half way down he noticed Brayden looking up at them, mouth open in awe.

"We're coming back for you," Arthur said.

"Who are you?"

"My name is King Arthur of Camelot. And this Sir Gwaine, most noble knight of the Round Table."

"You're the King of Camelot?! The King of..."

"Yes. And I will return, as soon as my servant's well."

"Your servant, sir?... Is Merlin your servant?"

"And friend," Gwaine put in. Arthur nodded slowly.

"Yes," he agreed. "Yes, and friend." Arthur could feel Merlin smile on his shoulder, and he responded by nearly running out of the building to get Merlin to safety. That's what friends did, wasn't it?

**Hope it was okay! Can't wait to hear any of your thoughts and hopefully the next chapter (and I promise you now that there will be a next chapter) won't take quite so long to get up! xxxx**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello, dear readers! Wow, I completely forgot about this story! I've been focusing a lot recently on Sherlock and Pewdiepie - not Merlin. I kind of forgot about fanfiction yesterday, as I'd wanted to write this yesterday, but completely forgot. I have absolutely NO excuses for my tardiness, so I'm just going to accept my fate. I think I'm also starting to accept the fact that I can't keep to a schedule. Sorry! Anyway, I've finally posted this chapter! I can't say when the next one will be up, but I can say that I think the next 'chapter' will be the last. Finally, I hope you enjoy chapter 7 of Captive, written purely for all of you who I love so much :)**

**- Livvy xxx**

Three weeks later, Merlin woke up. He was surrounded by his closest friends, Gaius, Gwen, Arthur and the knights, but he felt a bit overcrowded and tremendously confused. Just a second ago he was helping Arthur with the lock on his cell, now he was in his own cot in Gaius' chambers. That made no sense!

He moved to sit up, but a fire blazed in his chest, preventing him from doing so. Also, a hand gently pushed him back.

"Welcome back," said the owner of the hand. It was Arthur. Gwen immediately broke into floods of tears and she left the room with the knights, leaving just Arthur, Gaius and Merlin in the room.

"Merlin? Oh, he's done it again, Gaius," Arthur said, sighing as if disappointed. Merlin just stared at him, confused and lost in his own head.

"I don't think so. I think he's with us," Gaius disagreed. He placed a hand on the back of Merlin's head and used the other to pour some water down his throat. The boy drank it, but didn't take his eyes off of his master.

"Um... Is he okay?" Arthur asked, becoming slightly disturbed by the dark blue eyes which were staring straight into his own.

"Seems to be. Try talking to him directly."

"Merlin? Are you... Are you feeling okay?" Arthur asked, hesitantly. Merlin blinked and snapped put of his trance-like state, immediately looking away, embarrassed.

"Yeah... Yeah, I guess I'm fine."

"Hey," Merlin looked back at Arthur, "do you... Remember what happened?"

"...Yes."

Arthur and Gaius shared a look and Gaius pressed Merlin to continue.

"Why were you there, Merlin? What happened?"

"I... I don't know why I was there. But the man in charge was really interested in me. He was a sick man, tortured innocent people for the fun of it. I guess I was just his latest victim," Merlin looked into the physician's eyes as he spoke, saying 'this isn't the whole truth. I'm talking about magic' with just his eyes, luckily Gaius understood and quickly sent away Arthur.

"Horrid indeed. Arthur, I think Merlin might be in need of some sleeping aid. Unfortunately, I do not have the proper ingredients. Do you think you could get the items on this list for me?" He handed over a piece of paper from the book in his lap and Arthur nodded and hurried off. Merlin smiled sadly at his willingness to help with a false task.

"Now, tell me everything."

"I was kidnapped for my powers. He wanted them for himself, whether that meant me being his slave or whether it required my powers to be extracted by unnatural means. Of course, I refused to serve him, and he locked me away in a cell with..."

"With?"

"Magic suppressing manacles," Merlin managed. The memory of the pain those things had put him through made him shiver and cringe. Where were they now? Did Arthur have them?

"What?! How did you possibly manage?"

"With difficulty, I won't lie."

"What else happened?"

"He did the more traditional torture," Merlin indicated his chest "and left me to die, waiting for me to cave in to his demands under the pain from the manacles and the gash. Having my magic suppressed felt as though my soul was breaking, Gaius. I was close to giving in. Eventually, Arthur and Gwaine came, but I can't remember anything after that."

"Where are the manacles now?"

"I think Arthur has them. I refused to leave them there because I knew that if they would stay there in that hellish place then they would be used again on the next poor soul who ended up trapped in there."

"That was very brave of you, Merlin. I'm so proud of your strength." Merlin scoffed.

"Thank you, Gaius. But unfortunately, I'm feeling tremendously weak at present, and I don't think I can talk for much longer."

"I understand. I need to examine those manacles. I don't know if it's done any permanent damage to your magic having them on that long."

"I used magic to unlock the lock, but... But then... I passed out."

"I see... Arthur should be back shortly, so get some rest and start thinking of your answers."

"Answers?"

"Well, he's going to question you about what happened, so start thinking of answers to his questions."

"Okay," Merlin relaxed visibly as Gaius left the room to see if he had any books on manacles. Unlikely. It seemed as though a trip to the library might be necessary.

Merlin started thinking. Answers... Ugh. He'd never been a good liar. Arthur could usually see through most of his lies. What happened to him? That would be Arthur's first question. Merlin didn't have to lie about his chest, but his wrists? No normal manacles would leave burns as those had. So, how would he lie about that? Next question would probably be something like what did Nomed want? Of course, Arthur knew about Nomed's reputation with magical people, so that would be difficult to lie about. Perhaps... Perhaps it was time.

Perhaps it was time to tell Arthur.


	8. Chapter 8

"What happened, Merlin?" Arthur asked the next day, intent on getting some answers out of his friend. Gaius was in the other room, making some sort of paste for Merlin's chest wound, and it was just the two boys in the room.

"I... I was kidnapped,"

"Why?" _Here it is. Please don't execute me._

"I have magic."

**Short chapter much? Ha ha x I really hope you enjoyed this story and I'm sorry for the cliff-hanger ending, but I thought it was a delightfully devilish way to end this journey. I love you all and thank you for reading and reviewing and I might see you all again in a sequel... What do you guys think?**

**- Livvy x**


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